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Opinions? Specifically about the one in WA, but it's a chain so they all must be similar. We're thinking of going for one night and taking advantage of the water park both days--we're in our 20s (no kids) and need a cheap getaway.
Looks like we could get the room that includes the water park admission and activities for about $250, so am I safe to assume we could probably keep it under $500 with food and incidentals? Any discounts, tips, or tricks? I've already played around with the dates on their website and it looks like around holidays or Saturday night is bad. Weekdays are the best but we don't want to take time off. I don't want to stay more than one night if we can go swimming both days.
Anyone not like their stay? I've read a bunch of reviews that mainly said it's great for kids, kinda expensive, but cool. I could understand with kids and food and all it could get bad, but for a cheap weekend trip it's pretty doable. We haven't had a vacation in awhile and we're hoping our tax refund can pay for it. Thanks for any tips. We'd want to go around March when it's still cold here (I'll have to be careful to avoid spring breakers).
Olympia Traveler: Boycott The Great Wolf Lodge, Thurston County, WA (http://www.olympiatraveler.com/2008/11/boycott-the-great-wolf-lodge-thurston-county-wa.html - broken link)
Are water parks w/ tons of kids and kid birthday parties your "thing"? If it is not then you might not be happy. Keep in mind a LOT of groups go to Great Wolf and not just families w/ small kids. It is a huge "destination" for birthday parties as well. We recently did this for one daughters birthday. Stayed in a 2-bedroom suite - I wanted some sleep in case the girls stayed up all night. It IS expensive and it can be one of those things that you don't realize till your done how many $5 bills you have gone thru just to get a drink or snack. You can not take in outside food/drinks to the pool area. Only drinks/food purchased ON PROPERTY can be taken in there. While you might splurge for the room w/ the "kitchenette" it won't do you any good. Your better off w/ a basic room and a mini fridge or ice chest for the 1st night and early morning. Once you check out all of your belongings are going to be in your car for the rest of that day while your at the water park. So those drinks in the ice chest are not going to be much good to you. As for night/evening................. think kids running EVERYWHERE!!!! And I mean in the corridors as well. There is a game they play called Magic Quest w/ a wand purchased there and activated. You have to follow the directions/clues to varies places ALL OVER THE ENTIRE complex (minus the pool area) including hotel corridors, stairwells, etc for them to get to different levels. The kids playing the game are asked to not use the elevator but use the stairwells instead. Midnight the kids are still going around doing this quest. Parents basically camp out in one spot somewhere in the hotel and the kids run off to do the quest. I'm sure some parents just stay in their rooms as well since there seemed to be PLENTY of empty cushy seats for one to keep an eye on what was going on in the public areas. Yet hundreds of kids running around. Some people do say you can leave and go somewhere else to eat but that is a PITA when it is cold and you are in your swimsuit. So your stuck w/ the food there on property.
If your young married and looking for any kind of "romantic" type of getaway......... this will not be it. It might be a good way to practice birth control faithfully .
Depending on what you want to really do you can probably do something else a LOT cheaper. If your wanting to stay close by look on travel sites like: travelocity, expedia, hotels.com, etc and find the "Last Minute Weekend Getaways". Look at hotels only and you can find some 5 star VERY NICE hotels in a downtown area where you can park the car on Friday or Saturday (might be able to do 2 nights by not doing Great Wolf Lodge) and walk or use public trasportation to sightsee. Go to places in your city you normally don't get the chance to visit. We used to do this all of the time even before kids when first married. It was always fun to be a "tourist" in our hometown.
Thanks for the tips! I've read the reviews and the Google stuff...just wondering if there were any other tips, coupons or deals (haven't found a thing with Google, even the AAA discount wasn't showing up for me), and personal reviews. We're looking for something away from our home city (it's about an hour and a half for us), warm, and fun...nothing really romantic! Kids all over are fine with us. We specifically wanted to go to the water park because it'll be warm and we like the slides and such without the really hard core thrill sort of stuff.
That's a bummer about outside food by the pool--do they really check? How would they know the bottle of soda we're drinking wasn't bought in a vending machine, etc? We'd be doing it on the cheap--only one night, probably go off-site for dinner, breakfast buffet, and live off snacks for lunch. If we really had to buy bottled water and drinks on site I'd probably almost say forget it though...I will only pay so much. We also have food restrictions and such so we're not easy to please where there is not a huge selection. I think the cost is rather outrageous but it's something we really want to do (it's crazy that at certain times even the cheapest room is $500). I've been trying to find a way to make it work every since we moved here.
I haven't seen any other water parks here open in winter. We passed it on the freeway when we were moving here last summer and both immediately wanted to go...we're kids at heart still. We have the romantic trip planned for our wedding later this year so we're not expecting that at all. We'd plan to stay somewhere else nearby an additional night to do some shopping in the area (outlet malls and a Cabela's).
Opinions? Specifically about the one in WA, but it's a chain so they all must be similar. We're thinking of going for one night and taking advantage of the water park both days--we're in our 20s (no kids) and need a cheap getaway.
Looks like we could get the room that includes the water park admission and activities for about $250, so am I safe to assume we could probably keep it under $500 with food and incidentals? Any discounts, tips, or tricks? I've already played around with the dates on their website and it looks like around holidays or Saturday night is bad. Weekdays are the best but we don't want to take time off. I don't want to stay more than one night if we can go swimming both days.
Anyone not like their stay? I've read a bunch of reviews that mainly said it's great for kids, kinda expensive, but cool. I could understand with kids and food and all it could get bad, but for a cheap weekend trip it's pretty doable. We haven't had a vacation in awhile and we're hoping our tax refund can pay for it. Thanks for any tips. We'd want to go around March when it's still cold here (I'll have to be careful to avoid spring breakers).
We have one here in Williamsburg and we love it! We take the kids every year for at least one night during the winter and they have a blast! I have not seen many couples without children there but then again, I was not really paying attention to that so I'm sure there are some. But it is very family friendly and just an absolute blast!
just wondering if there were any other tips, coupons or deals (haven't found a thing with Google, even the AAA discount wasn't showing up for me),
That's a bummer about outside food by the pool--do they really check? How would they know the bottle of soda we're drinking wasn't bought in a vending machine, etc? We'd be doing it on the cheap--only one night, probably go off-site for dinner, breakfast buffet, and live off snacks for lunch. If we really had to buy bottled water and drinks on site I'd probably almost say forget it though...I will only pay so much. We also have food restrictions and such so we're not easy to please where there is not a huge selection. I think the cost is rather outrageous but it's something we really want to do (it's crazy that at certain times even the cheapest room is $500). I've been trying to find a way to make it work every since we moved here.
They NEVER have coupons or specials. Even their prices on travel sites are always the same as thru the hotel. Why have coupons or special deals when people are gladly handing over the money your charging.
Yes, THEY CHECK what your bringing in. There is ONE DOOR into the pool area and you MUST have on your wristband to get in those doors. Someone is sitting there checking. If your carrying an ice chest or ANY FOOD that is not from the hotel...... no go. How will they know and what do they do? Let me put it this way:
We were there for my daughters birthday and that weekend it happened to be a high of about 20 degrees. On the morning of checkout we got up and had donuts and stuff I had brought for breakfast in our room (that is okay). Kids packed up and got ready and so did I. Since I did not want to go outside to the VERY END of the parking lot in my swimsuit in 20 degree weather I packed my swimbag w/ my swimsuit to change into after I loaded luggage in the car. Had a plastic bag for every kid to put a WARM change of clothes in and put their swimsuit in when it was time to go later that day. Sent the kids w/ my teenager to the pool while I took all of the luggage to the car. Not knowing the food/drink policy I still had the canned drinks and the HALF EATEN BIRTHDAY CAKE in the room to take down for us for later and checkout is 10:00 am (would have taken the cake at this time but see below). I only have so many hands anyway to carry luggage for 6 people . So I come back and change into swimsuit to checkout, put canned drinks into a plastic bag since I did not have an ice chest and carried it all down to the pool including the HALF EATEN BIRTHDAY CAKE! I was able to get into the pool area w/ it since it was not in an ice chest (lol) but rather a plastic bag FROM GWL. HOWEVER, the manager walking by our table saw the HALF EATEN BIRTHDAY CAKE in its covered cake thing from a bakery and a CAN OF SPRITE along w/ a DIFFERENT BRAND OF BOTTLED WATER I was drinking. He stopped dead in his tracks and told me I had to take it ALL OUT!!! TO MY CAR IN THE FREEZING COLD IN MY WET SWIMSUIT!!!! Or throw it all away. Even when I told him we had no plans to CONSUME the cake there in the pool area as we had NO UTENSILS to do so but it WAS going to go home with us later that day. Even explained it was 20 DEGRESS outside and I only had so many hands w/ the kids w/ me when I took our luggage out earlier. Guess I COULD have piled it on top of the luggage cart and let it fall off and make a mess in the hotel for them to clean up but when I saw it WAS going to fall off I did not take it to the car then.
Sure you CAN bring in a bottle of water but they sell a CERTAIN BRAND and they KNOW what brand they carry and sell on property (Pepsi products ). He KNEW that NO ONE could buy a SPRITE on the hotel property so that little half sized can of Sprite was a BIG NO-NO! My bottle of Ozarka water was HUGE NO-NO!!! I thought he was going to have a coronary with the cake. And no, there were other cakes in the area but they had purchased them ON PROPERTY!
If you want to know the food selection at the property you should be able to go onto their website and see what "restaurants" they have and a brief menu. If it is like the one here there is a Pizza Hut and a bakery/deli/ice cream on the pool level but not IN the pool area and then two other restaurants upstairs. In the pool area there is the typical pool fare "service" with hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, ice cream, etc. Of course with typical pool fare service prices.
The pool area itself is fun and the kids did enjoy it. Would I do it again........ probably not. Once was enough for us. We have Schlitterbahn about 4 hours away and you CAN bring in your own food/drinks and stay on property w/ a grill on your back patio and all.
Wow they sure have a Monopoly there...I guess we wouldn't be all day in the pool area with our one night plan...maybe we'll go back to the room or out. If we could do it for a few hundred bucks it would probably be a fun memory.
Wow they sure have a Monopoly there...I guess we wouldn't be all day in the pool area with our one night plan...maybe we'll go back to the room or out. If we could do it for a few hundred bucks it would probably be a fun memory.
Staying only 1 night your not going to have much time in your room. You can not check in till 4 pm and check out is like 10 or 11 am. Going back up to your room for lunch isn't really an option since all of your stuff is already in your car and your room key is deactivated (room key and chip for all charges on your card is IN your wristband - so that is a really cool idea they came up with). It really is a bummer that it isn't a bit easier to bring in your own drinks. They are already getting a ton of money out of you for everything else so I really don't see them losing a lot of money by allowing it. People happily oblige by it so they are not hurting by their policies.
We went this past summer (with 3 kids). I wanna go back with just me and DH. It is a great place to act like a kid. We went to the one in Willamsburg.
As for drinks/food at the pool, if you were to bring a bottle of water (in a sports bottle) we didn't have any trouble other than nobody wanted to keep up with the bottle. The snack shop at our pool was resonable.... for a vacay spot. Pricier than McDonalds, but not as bad as most amusement parks. We stayed two nights with 3 kids and spent about 750.00 for all of us and food. DH and I went out for a seafood dinner w/o the kids even.
We were just there this past week, the one in Traverse City Michigan. We were able to check in at 1pm and you can get late check for an addtl. 15.00 per hour. You can bring outside food for your room, which ours had a frig and microwave.
We have been many times and sometimes eaten onsite and other times we just hit the local fast food for dinner.....we have also brought our own fixins for sandwiches and such.
Several times when we have stayed there, the next morning there was a letter under our door offering the second night stay for $99.00......nice option to extend your stay if you choose.
Have a great time if you decide to stay
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. So I come back and change into swimsuit to checkout, put canned drinks into a plastic bag since I did not have an ice chest and carried it all down to the pool including the HALF EATEN BIRTHDAY CAKE! I was able to get into the pool area w/ it since it was not in an ice chest (lol) but rather a plastic bag FROM GWL. HOWEVER, the manager walking by our table saw the HALF EATEN BIRTHDAY CAKE in its covered cake thing from a bakery and a CAN OF SPRITE along w/ a DIFFERENT BRAND OF BOTTLED WATER I was drinking. He stopped dead in his tracks and told me I had to take it ALL OUT!!! TO MY CAR IN THE FREEZING COLD IN MY WET SWIMSUIT!!!! Or throw it all away. Even when I told him we had no plans to CONSUME the cake there in the pool area as we had NO UTENSILS to do so but it WAS going to go home with us later that day. Even explained it was 20 DEGRESS outside and I only had so many hands w/ the kids w/ me when I took our luggage out earlier. Guess I COULD have piled it on top of the luggage cart and let it fall off and make a mess in the hotel for them to clean up 
